Money Savvy

Adrian Zackheim and Adrienne Schultz at Portfolio beat several other bidders in an auction for Zac Bissonette's first book via David Kuhn at Kuhn Projects. The author, a college sophomore and co-editor of AOL's WalletPop.com, will argue that American parents and their high school children need to rethink their approach to choosing and paying for college. Bissonette, who contends that most elite private colleges are overrated, is paying his own way through the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; he'll show parents and students how to assess the value of a private versus public university degree, demonstrate the ramifications of saddling oneself with student loan debt and explain how students can use their college years to position themselves for long-term success. An editorial the author recently wrote for thedailybeast.com landed him on CNN's American Morning. Portfolio has world rights to the presently untitled book, and will publish in August 2010.

Kathy Pories at Algonquin acquired world English rights to Hodding Carter's A Year of Living Within Our Means via Sally Wofford-Girand at Brick House. After 10 years of profligate spending fueled by real estate flips, refinancing and credit card debt, the author will write about living on what he actually earns. In order to do so, he and his family of six will mine cost-saving techniques from the Great Depression and the first cookbook in America, and stay within their budget, whether that means growing their own food or bartering for things they need. Carter is writing a column based on his experiences for Gourmet.

SMP Wins Lamm

Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin's beat nine other bidders in a four-day auction for Brad Lamm's How to Change Someone You Love; Todd Shuster at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth sold North American rights. In his first book, Lamm, a board-registered interventionist, will explain how readers can change the life of someone who's engaging in self-destructive behavior. SMP plans to publish in early 2010.

New Series to Putnam

Capitalizing on the hot Scandinavian thriller trend, Kate Davis at Putnam has acquired two books in a new series by James Thompson via Nat Sobel, who sold North American rights at auction. The novels, Snow Angels and Dead of Winter, will feature a hard-boiled detective delving into Finland's dark, violent underbelly. Thompson is an American who's been living in Finland for 10 years. Projected pub dates are early 2010 and 2011, followed a year after in each case by Berkley paperbacks.

Trailing Genghis Khan

Anton Mueller at Bloomsbury beat three other bidders for world rights to Tim Cope's In the Steps of the Nomad via Gail Ross. Cope, a 29-year-old Australian adventurer, will describe his three-year-plus journey from Mongolia to Romania on horseback, covering various isolated regions of the former Soviet Union. Cope maintains a Web site, timcopejourneys.com, that charts his varied expeditions. Tentative pub date is sometime in 2011; Bloomsbury UK will publish simultaneously, as will Allen & Unwin in Australia and New Zealand.

In His Own Words

Michelle Howry at Touchstone/Fireside won an auction for world rights to Remember How I Love You by the late Jerry Orbach and his wife, Elaine Orbach; Alison Fargis at the Stonesong Press made the deal. Through Orbach's words, notes, poems and reminiscences to his friends and loved ones, the book will tell the story of the couple's enduring love and provide a peek inside the life of the Law and Order actor. Pub date is fall 2009.